Page 1589 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 31 March 2009
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• Rating policy: the government proposed a complete change to the way in which general rates are determined in the ACT. This proposed policy, for which little analysis had been done—Ted Quinlan said it sounded like a good idea at the time—was defeated in the Assembly.
• Corporate reconstruction concession: this policy involved changing an existing exemption to a concession based on 95 per cent of the duty payable, raising an additional $1.1 million.
• Transfer of business assets: this policy imposes a duty on the acquisition of business assets at the same rate as conveyance duty, raising $1.7 million.
• Bushfire tax: the government proposed to impose a fixed levy on all rateable properties for two years, raising $10 million over two years. This knee-jerk proposal was abandoned as unnecessary.
• Loan security duty: this policy would have imposed a duty of secured loans with a value of more than $1 million, raising half a million dollars. This proposal was abandoned after the government realised belatedly that the states were abolishing this duty.
• Pay parking in Barton: this proposal had to be abandoned when it was established that the ACT government could not introduce this taxing measure.
• Parking space tax: this measure was proposed in the 2003-04 budget to apply in four city centres in Canberra, raising $2.5 million. Again, this policy was very poorly developed and the government failed to undertake proper consultations. The government finally abandoned this proposal.
• City heart tax: in the 2005-06 budget the government proposed to replace the ill-fated parking space tax with this tax. It is actually called a levy, but it is still a tax. This tax is anticipated to raise only $2.5 million each year when it is introduced. Once again, the key feature of this proposal has been a lack of proper planning and development. Finally in December 2006, the Stanhope government managed to have a city heart tax introduced. Legislation was passed in March 2007.
• Home buyer concession scheme: after considerable pressure from the opposition and other interests the government finally agreed to make the parameters of this policy more appropriate to the market for residential properties. Unfortunately, the government announced the policy change some weeks before the implementation date, resulting in an unnecessary hiatus in parts of the property market.
• Motor vehicle tax: in May 2006 the Stanhope government sought to impose stamp duty on motor vehicles based on the list price of a vehicle. In the face of fierce opposition from the opposition and the industry, when the government became aware of the stupidity of this proposition the proposal was withdrawn.
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